The adventures of my wallet

It has been a long time since I’ve written a blog. I’ve been staying busy with work, going to Bishkek, and hanging out with my family. Not a whole lot has happened here. I went to Bishkek last week to finish a grant and to start pricing books for a new grant. Turns out the books are much more expensive than I expected, but I think they are going to be a great learning tool and my counterpart is really great at English and it will help her with ideas. It was a very stressful and busy few days in Bishkek, but I managed to squeeze some time in for my friends who got just got back from Thailand. They got married. Their pictures and stories were amazing. It’s always great to see such great people get together.
While in Bishkek I lost my wallet with EVERYTHING in it. As my sister wrote on my blog… some things never change. The great thing that I have learned over the years about when I lose things is not to freak out. It has served me well to stay calm and think happy thoughts. If I don’t find whatever I’ve lost then I’m still left with not freaking out. My friend Heather and I were heading out to our old training village to visit her host sister because she is going to Moscow to work. We took a mini bus to one city and then a taxi to our village. We sat, talked, laughed, and ate. It was a great time and we were so happy to see her sister and dad. When it was time to leave I noticed I didn’t have my wallet. Crap. We searched the house and then searched the village for the taxi that took us there. Somehow we found it and it was not in there. Her host dad starting yelling at the guy for not having it. It’s not like it was his fault. So we got back into the city and figured it was a lost cause because there are so many marshrutkas (minibuses) that go between the two cities we traveled between. There was no way we would be able to track it down. Then next day I went into the PC office and talked to the people there about it. We decided to wait a couple days to see if it would turn up and if not we would start the process of getting new documents. I went about my day and got things done. Around 3 in the afternoon I got a call from this guy asking me in Russian if my name was Emilia (Emily is my middle name). He was reading my documents and was trying to get a hold of me to give them back. In my broken Kyrgyz I told him that I needed to get someone to talk to him. I ran inside the office and got a host country national to talk to the guy. After a few hand offs and negotiating one of the staff members got off the phone and said that he was demanding 1000 som for the return of my wallet. They were going to wait an hour or so and call him back and try to get it back. I just went back to working and finishing things I needed to do in Bishkek. At the end of the day Heather and I went inside so she could learn some songs on the Komuz (the local national stringed instrument). While sitting and listening to people play music the PC staff member walked in with my ID, WITH EVERYTHING STILL IN IT. It was amazing. We didn’t even have to pay a dime (well I guess a som here). I sat there wondering how could he have known my number? Then I realized I had cards in my wallet with my numbers on it so when I add units to my phone I don’t have to tell them the number, I just give them my card. Smartest thing I’ve ever done. He just started calling my numbers and finally got the one that was attached to the simcard in my phone. I still am amazed how it all worked out. But I guess that shows to tell you that happy thoughts can help a lot more than freaking out!
Thank you PC for helping me find my wallet and I promise to keep it with me (Ok… I’ll try to keep it with me) and not leave it places I can’t get it back.

This is a picture of a camel in the middle of the city. I was walking back to the hotel from the PC office and looked up and this is what I saw. It was too good of a picture to not take. Enjoy!! :)
Brooke